Whether you are running a hospital, a city, a nursing unit or a country you must be able to empathize & have the strength to act on that empathy to solve problems. That is why one of the three great characteristic common to every great leader is compassion.
Without it, leaders are deaf to human need. They cannot select good team members or execute an inspiring vision. Without compassion, Lincoln, Reagan, Obama & others would have failed.
Forget politics. The current Presidential election is now about our health & well-being in a country divided as it has not been since the Civil War.
Yet, too many of my fellow white males dismiss compassion as irrelevant. "What I want is a tough leader," one told me recently. In fact, what America needs right now is a President who is what Martin Luther King called "tough-minded & tender-hearted."
John Baldoni wrote in last week's Forbes Magazine, "As our nation is riven by the twin viruses of Covid-19 and systemic racism, and the resulting economic fallout, people in need, or people in general, want to know that someone cares."
Why? A President that genuinely appreciates suffering will not toss paper towels at a crowd of Puerto Ricans hungry for food, water & electricity & then refuse meaningful aid. He will not tolerate immigrant children being caged, will respond immediately to the pandemic instead of calling it "a hoax" & will empathize with both police & those suffering from racist treatment.
Baldoni suggests who can best lead America: "Biden feels empathetic because that is who he is. He acts on empathy because he feels he must. And therein lies the leadership lesson. Being and doing are different things."
Yes. This Presidential election is now about our health. Leaders who lack compassionate are blind to the very human needs we elect them to address.
That is why we need a President who is a Caregiver-in-Chief as well as a Commander in Chief. Someone who leads with love, not fear.
-Erie Chapman
Here is a 3 minute video I made to help you explain this issue to others: https://youtu.be/yeHMj9T1Ivg
